Modern passenger cars have a number of airbags, such as front and side airbags, which serve to cushion the impact of the passenger with for example interior parts of a passenger car in case of an accident. The airbag assembly is usually located on the steering wheel or column, the dash board or the side of the door panels etc. The airbag surface is inflated by means of an explosive device known as a squib. The wires or cables from the crash sensors of the car are connected to the squib by means of a so called squib connector. To this aim, the squib is provided with a socket which contains two contact pins. The squib connector comprises a plug part corresponding to the socket. To improve the connection between the squib and squib connector airbag retainer inserts are used, which are adapted to fit into the receptacle of the airbag squibs and which facilitate and secure the connection between squib and squib connectors. These retainer inserts (also abbreviated as “retainer” or “insert”) are commonly provided with some kind of electro-conductive clip, that short circuits the contact pins of the airbag squib before a squib connector is connected to the squib. Further, it is required that the squib connector is grounded before the terminals of the squib connector come into contact with the pins of the airbag squib. To this end, the electroconductive clips used in the past were often provided with some kind of grounding contact (sometimes also denoted as grounding contact), which establish electrical continuity between e.g. the body of the vehicle and the squib connector upon mating of the squib connector with the airbag squib.
The principle structure of an airbag squib is for example described in WO 2004/020933. The airbag squib disclosed in this document comprises an outer casing enclosing an igniter including a suitable pyro-technique charge. The squib is provided with two contact pins that are electrically connected to an igniter wire, which can activate the charge of the squib.
In document EP 1 073 160 a further development of an airbag retainer insert is disclosed. The insert is a piece of injection molded plastic, which is adapted to be inserted in the receptacle of an airbag squib. The insert is provided with a shorting clip, having two shorting tongues adapted to short circuit the pins of the squib. The clip additionally comprises a contact tongue that is adapted such that it is electrically connected to an earth connection situated on the plug of a squib connector, when the plug connector is inserted into the squib receptacle. However, the construction requires relatively large plate like structural members and the grounding contact is bent upwards from the base of the clip and runs for the most part parallel to the plate like structural members. Therefore, the clip requires a lot of space for installation in or onto the retainer. This in turn constricts the design freedom for the retainer, which is often undesirable.
The EP 1 401 063 A1 describes a similar construction comprising a retainer insert having a shorting clip mounted thereto. The shorting clip is provided with two contact tongues to short circuit the contact pins of an airbag squib. In the embodiments shown in this document, also grounding contacts are provided. However, the grounding contact of the FIG. 1 embodiment consists essentially of a flat plate member that extends perpendicularly from the base of the clip. The grounding contact of this embodiment does further not have any spring feature to enhance or improve the contacting with the corresponding counter contact of the squib connector. In the embodiment of FIG. 2 of this document, two grounding contacts are shown, that have an s-shape configuration protruding upwards from the flat base of the clip. The s-shape configuration provides a spring function to the contacts that improves the contacting with the corresponding counter contact of the squib connector. However, due to the s-shape of the grounding contacts, this type of clip connector is difficult to mount onto a retainer insert and the s-shape configuration of the two grounding contacts requires a lot of space, which is disadvantageous.
In the WO 2010/070391 A1 another embodiment of a shorting clip for an airbag ignition system is shown, which is provided with two contact members to short circuit the pins of an airbag squib and with first and second grounding contacts adapted to establish earth continuity between a ground contact of a squib connector and an electro-conductive part of the squib. However, this construction does not have a base but rather a support structure that is essentially parallel to the plug-in direction of the retainer insert. While this offers some advantages with regard to the installation height of the clip, it does not provide the same structural integrity as a solution that is based on a flat base, as in the other discussed prior art documents above.